General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Is Buying a House Still the Best Way to Build Wealth? [View all]pnwmom
(108,977 posts)and they've been happy they did it. They know where their daughter will go to school and don't have to worry about not getting a rental lease renewed. They both work but are very frugal and have savings in case they hit a rough spot.
In our case, we had a fixed mortgage and saw that payment become a smaller and smaller part of our income over the years. That wouldn't have been the case if we were paying rent. And an elderly relative has been able to use a reverse mortgage to get through her final years.
Many people got burned several years ago because they took balloon mortgages or other risky loans. But if you make a good downpayment on a fixed-rate loan, a house in a solid neighborhood can be a very good investment.
One thing I don't understand in the article -- it says that they bought the house with no money down. Then, after the crash, it was worth $150K less so they couldn't pull out any equity. But they didn't have any equity in the first place! They just had a very risky loan.